THE ROLE OF RECESS IN CHILDRENS COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

In this article we present a rationale for the importance of recess in primary school curriculum. We propose that children's immature cognit ions are well adapted for their particular phases of development and t hat children can get the most out of school when educators take advant age of children's immaturity to foster attention to classroom work. Fo r example, Asian schools, although presenting children with what is ge nerally considered to be a rigorous curriculum, provide more recesses for children in the early elementary school grades, which, we argue, r elates to children's ability to attend and, possibly, to learn in scho ol. Because young children are not able to focus their attention for e xtended periods of time as well as older children, their cognitive per formance will be hindered if they persist at tasks requiring focused a ttention for prolonged periods. We argue that by giving them frequent breaks during and between highly focused cognitive and academic tasks, their performance on later tasks should be enhanced relative to child ren who are not given such breaks. Also, performance on repeated tasks requiring focused attention decreases over time and trials, until res t periods are given. Rest periods in the form of recess enhances subse quent performance, although the nature of the recess activity may affe ct the extent of the subsequent benefits.